Maria McKean was supposed to be organizing a career fair for the College of Family and Consumer Sciences this year. Instead, she’s searching for a job without the help of the college’s career services or fair. The Family and Consumer Sciences Career Services office was closed this semester as a result of the college’s $256,000 budget cuts, said Carol Meeks, dean of family and consumer sciences. The career day also will not be held this year. Beverly Kruempel, former director of the FCS Career Services, declined to comment. McKean, senior in food science, said she used the career services last year and is now going to the College of Agriculture’s career service to find a job upon graduation. “I’m going to have to utilize other college services,” McKean said. “It’s not really an option not to use career services someplace.” McKean has the option of going to the College of Agriculture due to her major, but she said students in Textiles and Clothing or Human Development and Family Services don’t have an outlet in another college service besides the university’s as a whole. However, some services are still provided by the college. The students are now referred to a person within each department who has been assigned to deal with employment opportunities, Meeks said. The college will continue to offer the professional preparatory course along with helping students prepare r‚sum‚s, Meeks said. “One of the issues is making sure that all students have access, not just the good student who speaks up in class and gets recommended, but that everybody knows the positions are there and have the opportunity to apply,” Meeks said. McKean said students still have some options to present themselves to prospective employers even though there isn’t a career fair. Students can post information about themselves on a service called Web Walk-up. Another employment connection will be through direct links to employers’ home pages. The department’s Web page will have links to national sites such as the Hotel and Restaurant Web site. “We’re going to work harder on providing more Web connections,” Meeks said. Nicole Stout, junior in child and family services, said she is going to miss having all the resources in one central location. “It’s the most vital thing any college can provide because that’s what you’re going into – a professional career,” Stout said. “It was so nice to go in [the office] and sit down and research companies all in one spot.” McKean said not having a career service could also affect the number of students who enroll in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. “If I were going to major in food sciences or dietetics and had to choose what college I was going to enroll in, I think I’d choose agriculture,” McKean said. “I think it’s going to hurt the numbers. I know people have already switched to the College of Agriculture.”